Muted reception for new CEO Thorsten Heins at BlackBerry-maker RIM

BlackBerry-maker RIM’s appointment of insider Thorsten Heins as their new CEO
has been greeted with scepticism from industry analysts

BlackBerry maker RIM was worth more than $70bn a few years ago, but now has a market value of $8.9bnPhoto: Alamy

By Matt Warman & Richard Blackden, Consumer Technology Editor

11:04AM GMT 23 Jan 2012

Gartner vice-president Carolina Milanesi tweeted that “RIM's CEO change reminds me of the Nokia Spring reshuffle before [current CEO Stephen] Elop was appointed in September. The reshuffle was not enough for Nokia”.

Mr Heins has replaced founders and co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, although both will remain as directors of the company despite presiding over a 75 per cent decline in its share price over the last year.

The challenges facing Mr Heins, who joined RIM four years ago from Germany manufacturer Siemens, are considerable. RIM's share of the smartphone market in the US dwindled to just 16.6 per cent in the three months to the end of November, according to research firm ComScore.

That compares to just under 50 per cent for phones using Google's Android operating system and 28.7 per cent for Apple. Mr Heins said he would be appointing a new markecting cheif soon.

Among the changes’ harshest critics was Engadget’s Darren Murph. He argued against Mr Lazardis’ appointment to a run a new ‘Innovation Committee’. “Mike is hanging around as the Vice Chair of RIM's Board and Chair of the Board's new Innovation Committee,” he wrote. “You heard right -- the guy who has outrightly failed to innovate atanything in the past handful of years is now championing aninnovation committee. Sounds right up his alley, no?”

Ernest Doku, of uSwitch.com, "Thorsten Heins' rescue package involves rallying RIM's troops to launch the next-generation BlackBerry 10 phones later this year. His focus on delivering the hardware is admirable, but this hasn't worked for RIM thus far. The smartphone market is saturated, and the worry is that RIM is always one step behind the other big players.”

Earlier this month RIM announced new software for its PlayBook tablet and for its smartphones at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but the company is aiming to base its turnaround on integrating the new software in the PlayBook into its mobile phones as well. Mr Heins said his appointment would not change that strategy, but that he would seek to licence the software to other manufacturers as well.